Is there such a thing as "Islamic" architecture?
Style, culture, religionwhat do we signify when we use
this adjective? On the one hand, it is common to find
the paired terms the "Abode of Islam" ( Dar al-Islam )
and the "Abode of War" ( Dar al-Harb ) in Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish primary sources. Authors from a particular
social stratum identified an Islamic world in distinction
to an uncivilized, chaotic territory beyond the folds
of civilization. The Caliphate and its successor states,
stretching from Spain to North India, did rely on an ideology
of unity. Could there not be aesthetic, design and architectural
ideals coinciding with this ideal realm that shaped the
development of architectural practice? If so, is contemporary
Islamic architecture now lost like the age of these empires?

As Hasan-Uddin Khan, Martin Frishman and others have
pointed out, the use of "Islamic" to
describe architecture, urbanism, and art is problematic. The development of
this designation finds its foundations on a history
of European scholarship more than an all-pervasive stylistic
or cultural reality. Unlike the Roman Empire, the early
Caliphate had no model of architecture or town planning
to export from its Arabian heartland. And where built
elements did exist, it is difficult to discern the dividing
line between Arab and Islamic culture. If we do focus
on the common institutions and ideologies that would
make it possible for scholars, artists, merchants and
pilgrims to travel across distinct regions, often the Dar
al-Islam amounted to an imagined abode of the elite. Even later in history,
when a Dar al-Islam did coalesce, few Muslim jurists commented on
a common prescription for the layout of all mosques. Their focus instead honed
in on prescriptive codes of conduct as outlined in and interpreted from the
Qur'an, Hadith and
previous juridical decisions. If we are looking for an Islamic Architecture,
we should focus on architectural elements that facilitate codes of conduct
within the multiple regional and historical contexts of
the Islamic world.

Use of the term Islamic architecture then
signals us to pay close attention to the means by which
diverse peoples across the world integrate cultural-historical
contexts, regional styles, functional needs, and environmental
possibilities with their religious practices. It also
points us to the use of Islam and architecture to represent
and legitimize modes of status, state, and empire throughout
history.